Indies think Apple Music will finally make streaming pay

“Apple Music, the tech giant’s long-awaited foray into music streaming, launches today,” Julia Greenberg reports for Wired. “Apple is hoping it becomes the one, true streaming service that can get millions of people to pay to play, just like it got millions to pay for downloads from its iTunes Store.”

“Some indie insiders hope so, too,” Greenberg reports. “The belief is that the revenue for indie artists on Apple Music—even if it’s minuscule per stream—may mean more bucks overall than what they get from streaming competitors. And with Apple Music’s new social network, Connect, indie artists may finally have the definitive place to interact directly with their fans—like Myspace a decade ago, but with way more weight behind it.”

““It’s going to be huge. There will be exponentially more users, like a Facebook with a billion users,” says Tracy Maddux, CEO of CD Baby, one of the largest distributors of independent music,” Greenberg reports. “Maddux argues that if Apple can convert even a small percentage of the users that currently pay to download songs from the iTunes store, the company will bring in more revenue than with downloads—revenue in which artists will share. ‘The pool of money available to all artists grows exponentially,’ he says.”

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It doesn’t make sense comparing Apples with pears!
Comparing Apples with Apples makes more sense because then you can define what it is you like about a particular breed of apple as compared to another.
For example.
A Cox is better tasting than a Golden Delicious. Just because Gold is precious and delicious is what it portends to be does not mean that that is the case. A Cox is far more delicious!! Jonagold is tart, Egremont Russets coming in as the sweetest and nuttiest of Apples. There are numerous varieties that I will not mention here but the point is this……
There are, it is said, 800 million iTunes subscribers. A quick sampling of these subscribers will throw up a myriad of tastes that will encompass the entire genre of music available and new genres to come.
All artists will benefit in more ways than one (monetary). Exposure and discovery to at least a third of the 800 million subscribers will be the most potent of these leading to monetary benefits of course!

Wait, aren’t these the same guys saying they’d not make any money because of Apple not being willing to pay for the free 3 months? Is that three months really the difference between not making money and finally making money off streaming?